This is amazing. Ever-increasing download speeds, file sharing and the growing adoption of high quality online video are expected to lead to a surge of global IP traffic in the next few years.

More and more, consumers expect video content. While not too long ago it was a bandwidth hog, that is not longer true.

The strategic question is “Are you doing video”?

After file sharing had been the main contributor to global traffic for many years, online video is now the biggest data hog. Video (excluding video communication) was expected to account for 54 percent of global IP traffic in 2016. Web browsing and email only make up 13 percent of traffic, while voice over IP services and online gaming add less than one percent to the total.

How fast are the trends moving? Video will make up 82 percent of all internet traffic in 2021, according to forecasts released by Cisco, which sells networking equipment. Video accounted for 73 percent of traffic in 2016.

Not only are people watching more online video, they’re also watching better quality video, sapping more bandwidth. And cord cutters generate twice as much internet traffic as those who still pay for regular TV, according to Cisco.

The demand is coming from all types of internet video, including on-demand content like Netflix, web cam viewing and traditional TV options available over the internet (IP VOD).